Transfer mechanism operable between successive bobbin conveyors



G. A. sNow 2,794,532

TRANSFER MECHANISM OPERABLE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE BOBBIN CONVEYORS June 4, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 27, 1953 INVENTOR. GERALD A SNOW ATTY June 4, 1957 f G. A. SNOW 2,794,532

TRANSFER MECEANISM OPERAELE BETWEEN succEssIvE BoBBIN coNvEYoRs Original Filed March 27, 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENToR. Y GERALD A. SNOW Byw WM ATTY.

June 4, 1957 G. A. SNOW 2,794,532

TRANSFER MECHANISM OPERABLE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE BOBBIN CONVEYORS original' Filed Maren 27. 195s s Sheng-sheet s ooaoooooo oaooocolooo 4oeaoaradoocnea o coaooocaooucao June 4, 1957 G. A. sNow 2,794,532 I TRANSFER MECHANISM 'PERABLE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE BOBBIN CONVEYORS Original Fild March 27. 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 JNVENToE GERALD A. SNOW 82M, VW

ATTY.

June 4, 1957 G. A sNow 2,794,532

TRANSFER MECHANISM OPERABLE BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE BOBBIN CONVEYORS Original Filed March 27, 1953 Y 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. GERALD A. SNOW.

- ATTY.

June 4, 1957 f G. A. sNow 2,794,532

TRANSFER MECHANISM OPERABLE BETWEN SUCCESSIVE BOBBIN CONVEYORS Original Filed March 27, 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 IN1/Emol@ GERALD A. SNOW.

TRANSFER li/IECHANISM PERABLEBETWEEII SUCCESSIVE BOBBEN CNVEYRS Gerald A. Snow, Falmouth 'Foi-esima, Maine, assigner to Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts original application March 27, 195s, serai 'N0.;344,627. Divided and this application tiny 2e, 195s, serial No. 523,298

1 Claim. (Cl. 198-21) This application is a `division of my priorapplication Serial No. 344,627, led March.25, 1953.

Apparatus is known in the winding art by which bobbins or other weft carries may be wound on a plurality` of yadjacent winding units and by which the full bobbins from all units may be deposited-on a conveyor for transfer to.a common delivery or discharge point. i

In the case of bobbins wound withsilk or with any synthetic thread resembling silk, it is Ydesirable .that each wound bobbin be placed promptly on a separateupright pin in a so-.called pin-board, which .latter may vhold upward of a hundred bobbins. This storage arrangement prevents injury to delicate threads by accidental contact.

It is the'general object of .thispresent invention to .provide improved automatic apparatus for Vplacing the `full bobbins successivelyon .the pins Yofa pin-board,fandfor removing and replacing each pin-boardas. itisfully loaded.

My invention further relatesY to arrangements and .combinations of parts which will be hereinateridescr'ibed and moreparticularly pointed out intheappended claim.

2,794,532 Patented .lune 4, 1957 comprises va trough 22 (Fig. 13) having a depressible bottom plate 23 .provided with an upright pin 24 and normally raised by a spring 23a.

vWhen afull bobbin B is deposited in the trough 22, the

,plate 23 and pin 24 are depressed. As the bucket thereafter approaches `bobbin-discharge position, the pin 24 closes a switch to complete a circuit which initiates opera- Ytion of vcertain mechanism provided for receiving the full bobbin and for transferring the full bobbin to the carrier conveyor, all as best shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

Bobbz'n transfer to carrier conveyor Referring to Fig. 6, the depressed pin 24 engages and Ycloses a switch S mounted in a xed locus adjacent the bobbin-discharge position of the machine and located in rotated as previously explained.

Fig. 5 is a partial side elevation, looking inthe direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic and partially perspective view of certainpart's of thermechanism'for removing fllfbobbins from the bucket conveyor and for transferringlthese bobbins to the carrier conveyor best shown inFigs. 2 and 7;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of certain mechanism for Vintermittently advancing the carrier conveyor;

Fig.8 is a perspective view of certain mechanism for transferring a group of lled bobbins from a series Voffcarrier conveyor units to an associated group of1pins in a. pinaboard, and for thereupon releasing the pin-boardfor an vadvance or feeding movement;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of mechanism forreplacing a lled pinboard by an empty pin-board from storage;

Fig. l0 is a detail view of a holding latch shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. V1 1 is a detail view of a holding latch shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is an exploded view of certain intermittent feedingmechanism shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 13 is a detail sectional view of:a conveyor bucket to'be described; and

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary detail `ofaportionof a loaded pin-board. Y

Referring to Fig. l, the fully-wound bobbins -B Yfrom a series of associated winding units 'W aredepositedfon a chainetype bucket conveyor C which is .continuously fadvanced by a winding shaft 20. Eachconveyor'bucket the fnotched disc 31.

The swinging latch 30 is yieldingly movable by aspring '30a (Fig. 6) to engage the `disc 31.

`While the discs 31 and 34 are shown widely spaced for clearness `in the diagrammatic and exploded views of Fig. 6, these parts are closely adjacent in the actual machine. `Withth'e discs 31 Vand 34 thus closely adjacent, lifting of `fthexplunger 2S 'and wedge member V9 by the Ysolenoid coil .27 Apermits the spring 30a to swing the latch 30 sidewise inithe ldisc 34 andto thus engage the teeth on the side of The shaft 35 and associated parts arethus given a single revolution but are again Vbrought to rest by engagement of the cam-like end surface of the latch 30 with the coacting cam surface at the lower end of `themember 29. Such engagement swings the latch 30 away from the driving disc 31 and thus stops further rotation-of the shaft 35 until the solenoid coil 27 is again energized.

YNil/hen the switch S is closed to withdraw the wedge 29, the latch 30 engages the clutch disc 31 and the associated Vshaft 35 isgiven a single revolution. During this revolu- Vtion 'the switch Sis again opened. Also the full bobbin slotted to embrace an upright shaft Si? which is. gear-driven afrom the shaft 35 previously described. Apin 52 in the slide 48 extends into a cam groove 53 in a disc cam `54 (Fig. 7) secured on the shaft 50.

With'these connections, it will be clear that each time the shaft 35 makes a single revolution, the shaft 50 will makel a similar revolution, and the cam disc 54- will move the slide 48 to rock the transfer member du to shift a full lbobbin B from the horizontal position shown in Fig. 2 to a substantially upright position in one of the carrier units 60 on the carrier conveyor C' and as shown at YB in Fig. 2` The cam groove 53 then retains the transfer member 40 in its normal vertical position from which it will thereafter be again moved to horizontal position when another full bobbin approaches transfer position.

Carrier conveyor feed The means for intermittently advancing the carrier conveyor-C is best shown in Figs. '6 and Y7. The inter- Vmittentlyfadvanced shaft 50 is extended above the dise vided with a notch 72 in its under side. A normally holds down an arm 74 (Fig. 8) on the shaft Y time a full bobbin B isdropped onto the transfer member 40, and the` associated parts 66, 67 and V642i are ad vanced s of a revolution or 45. f

The conveyor C is thus advanced one space at neach 1 operation of the transfer member 40, so that successive carrier units 60 with full bobbins Bv move across the front of the carrier assembly as viewed in Fig. 2 until eight adjacent carrier units 60 have been lled and advanced and are in transverse alignment. The bobbins B' these aligned carrier units rest on an angle Viron or cross bal 70 (Figs. l and 8), which normally' supports the full bobbins B in the position shown in'Fig. 2. The

lower ends of the swinging carrier units 60'are positioned jby a fixed guide bar 71.

Bobbz'n release mechanism Mechanism best shown in Fig. 8 is provided for deposit- D. For this purpose, the disc 67 (Figs. 7 and.r8) is pro- The disc 67 75 which supports the cross bar 70. Once in each revolution of the disc 67, the notch 72 allows the arm 74 to swing upward, and the cross bar 70 is then moved backward Yby a spring 73 and gravity to release the bobbins B resting thereon. These eight bobbins thereupon slide downward and are received and held upright by the pins P on an operatively-positioned pin-board D, as shown in Y Fig. 14.

A cam disc 80 (Fig. 8) is mounted on the upper part of the Geneva pinion shaft 64 and rotates above an arm r 81 on the shaft 75 which supports the cross bar 70. The

cam disc 80 rotates once with every revolution of the Geneva pinion 65, and on each rotation it swings the cross bar 70 back to supporting position if it has been displaced therefrom. Consequently, when the cross bar is released by the notch 72 and is moved back to discharge its load, it is promptly thereafter returned to holding position by the action of the cam disc 80.

Pin-board release and feed The pin-boards D rest upon a pair of conveyor chains 90 and 91 (Fig. 6) driven by sprockets 92 on a cross shaft 93 which is connected by a chain 94 and sprocket 95 to a shaft 96 aligned with the shaft 35 previously described. The shaft 35 has an arm 97 supporting a pawl 98 (Fig. 12) which rotates about a fixed annular disc 99.

This disc is cut away for a relatively short segment to uncover certain teeth of a ratchet wheel 100 secured on i the end of the shaft 96. At each revolution of the shaft 6 35, the pawl 98 thus advances the ratchet wheel 100 a limited number of teeth and correspondingly advances y the chains 90 and 91 which support the pin-board D.

There is no positive connection between the pin-board D and the chains 90 and 91, and the board is normally Y held from forward movement by the chains by engagement of the end pins P on the board D with star wheels 102 mounted on fixed pivots and normally held from rotation 4by latches 103 (Figs. 8 and 10).

When the bar 70 is swung backward to release a load of bobbins, the bar 70 disengages the latches 103 from the tion, the latches 103 are released and again lock the star wheels 102.

Pin-board replacement I will now describe the mechanism for replacing a loaded pin-board D. As above described, the pin-board D is released for a limited forward movement each time a row of pins P is filled. When the full pin-board D is thus released after the last row of pins has been lled, it continues to travel forward with the chains 90 and 91, and an open space is left at the rear of the pin-board.

A lever 110 (Fig. 9) normally engages the under side of the pin-board but when this open space appears, the lever 110 is rocked by a spring 114 to close a switch S2 which controls a solenoid 111 (Figs. 4 and 5) associated with a one-revolution clutch similar in construction to the clutch -31 previously described.`

This second clutch comprises a notched disc 112 (Fig. 9) continuously rotated by a chain V113 from the conveyor shaft 20 `previously described. A 'disc 115 is mounted on a short shaft 116 and has a swingingV latch 117, normally held out of action by'an arm 118; When Y ing a row of bobbins B on a row of pins P in a pin-board y the switch S2 is closed, the arm 118 is drawn upward, releasing latch 117, which then engages the disc 112. The shaft 116 thereupon makes a single revolution.

A stack of empty pin-boards D (Fig. 9) are held in superposed storage between guide-bars 120, and the lowest board is held in slghtly raised position by a plurality of latches 122 shown in detail inFig. 11.

' An eccentric 125 (Fig. 9) is mounted on the shaft 116 and engages a roll 126 on a lever 127 mounted on a fixed pivot 128. The lever 127 is connected by a link 129 to a plunger 130 which is provided with a plate 131 which underlies the lowermost pin-board D.

' As the plunger 130, the plate 131 and the stack of empty boards are raised by the eccentric 125,.the latches 122 are freed, and these latches are so weighted'that they then move out of operative position and no longer support the lowermost pin-board. As the plunger 130 thereafter moves downward, this lowermost pin-board yis deposited on the conveyor chains 90 and 91 and is thereafter fed forward to bobbin-receiving position, as indicated by the pin-board D in Fig. 3.

As this lowermost pin-board moves down with the plunger 130, it engages the depending arms or tails 122a (Fig. 11) of the latches 122 and returns the latches to Y holding position, whererthey engage and support the next higher empty pin-board D as it moves downward to reserve position just clear of the chains 90 and 91.

Operation.

' The general operation of my improved pin-board loading apparatus is as follows:

It is assumed that the parts are in the position indicated in Fig. 2, and with a filled conveyor bucket 22 (Fig. 11)

approaching the discharge end of the bucket conveyor C. The full bobbin B in the bucket 22 holds the pin 24 depressed (see Fig. 13), Vand as this bucket reaches disf charge'position, the pin 24 closes the switch S (Fig. 6)

which withdraws the wedge 29 and permits the latch 30 to engage the clutch disc 31 and to thereby cause the i shaft 35 to make one revolution.

YThe shaft 50 (Figs. 6 and 7) makes a corresponding revolution, and the cam disc 54 operates through the slide 6 48 to swing the transfer member 40 upward, thus placing the full bobbin B deposited from the bucket 22 in one of the carrier units in theA carrier conveyor C', the bobbin being shown at B' in Fig..2.

star wheels 162, so that the pin-board D may be frictionally advanced'one space by the conveyor chains 90 and 91. As the cross bar .7 0 is returned to supporting posiboard is held from corresponding advancer movement by the star wheels 102.`

After eight successive advance movements of the carrier conveyor C', the ann 74 (Fig. 8) enters the notch 72, the cross bar 70 is withdrawn, and a row of full bobbins B from the filled carrier units 60 is dropped on a transveres row of pins P in the pin-board D. The latches 103 (Fig. 8) are momentarily released by the backward movement of the bar 70, and the pin-board D is free to frictionally advance one step by the chains 90 and 91 but is held from further advance by return of the latches 103 to locking position.

This cycle of operations is repeated until the last row of pins in the pin-board D is filled. The next forward movement of the pin-board leaves an open space behind the board which allows the lever 110 (Fig. 4) to move upward and to thereby close the switch S2 (Fig. 9) which causes the shaft 116 to make one full revolution.

During this revolution, the eccentric 125 (Fig. 9) operates initially through the lever 127 to lift the plunger 130, the plate 31 and the stack of empty pin-boards D. This stack of boards is lifted far enough to release the Weighted latches 122, so that on the subsequent return downward movement of the stack, the lowermost pinboard is deposited on the chains 90 and 91. At the same time, the next higher pin-board in the stack is caught and supported in slightly raised position by the latches 122.

This deposited and empty pin-board is then frictionally advanced by the chains 90 and 91 until the first row of pins P is in position to receive bobbins dropped from the carrier units 60. Then the board D is locked and held in this position by the star wheels 102 until its rst row of pins P is filled, after which it is advanced one space as previously described.

The operation of the mechanism is thus entirely auto matic and the attendant merely removes the filled boards from the right-hand end of the conveyor chains and 91 and sees that the stack of empty boards in storage is replenished from time to time.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not Wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what I claim is:

In a pin-board loading mechanism, a continuouslymoving collecting conveyor, buckets on said conveyor, a normally-open switch, a switch-closing device on each bucket operatively positioned by depositing a full bobbin therein, a carrier conveyor, means to transfer a full bobbin from said collecting conveyor to said carrier conveyor, a continuously-rotated shaft having a first and notched clutch disc thereon, a second and aligned shaft connected to operate said transfer means and which is normally stationary, a second clutch disc mounted on said second shaft and having a radially-extending arm pivoted therein and swingable sidewise in said second disc to engage said lirst and notched clutch disc, a solenoid having a wedge-shaped solenoid plunger normally engaging said swinging arm and holding said arm inoperative, and a circuit for said solenoid containing said normally-open switch.

References Cited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,053,632 Mulholland Feb. 18, 1913 1,991,699 Reiners et al Feb. 19, 1935 2,707,548 Pwr May 3., 195.5 

